Wiping over patches used for birth control
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Q: I respectfully request your Eminence to look into the method of ritual purity when using birth control patches that are applied to the body for a full week and are not removed before that, and if they are removed, the therapeutic benefit is lost. The question is: 1- Is it necessary for the woman to be in a state of ritual purity before applying them? 2- How is the full ritual bath performed while this patch is on the body? Your Eminence, these answers will help us, the pharmacists, in explaining the correct use of these patches to the women who are prescribed the medication.
A: A letter was written to His Excellency the Minister of Health, bearing number (6094) and dated 14/11/1425 AH, to inquire about this patch regarding its true nature and any harms resulting from its use, if any. He responded with a letter
bearing number (6105) and dated 11/2/1426 AH, which states: I wish to inform your Eminence that these patches contain the hormone progesterone, which is the same hormone used in some birth control pills. Their effect comes from the skin absorbing this hormone gradually. These patches have side effects similar to those of the pills, but they have no known complications on the body, whether local or general. After the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta studied the aforementioned inquiry, it responded that if these patches do not result in harm to the woman, there is no blame on using them, provided the reason for birth control is permissible, such as the woman not being able to give birth naturally and being forced to undergo a surgical operation to deliver the child, or if delaying pregnancy for a specific period is for a valid benefit seen by both spouses. However, if preventing pregnancy is due to fear of poverty and need, this is not permissible, and it is similar to the practice of the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Isra 17:31]. If the woman applies it while she needs it, she wipes over it when she wants to attain ritual purity, whether from minor ritual impurity if it is on the parts of the ablution, or
major ritual impurity. No specific duration is required for wiping over it, nor is it required that she be in a state of ritual purity when applying it initially; because the ruling for these patches is the same as the ruling for a cast.
A: A letter was written to His Excellency the Minister of Health, bearing number (6094) and dated 14/11/1425 AH, to inquire about this patch regarding its true nature and any harms resulting from its use, if any. He responded with a letter
bearing number (6105) and dated 11/2/1426 AH, which states: I wish to inform your Eminence that these patches contain the hormone progesterone, which is the same hormone used in some birth control pills. Their effect comes from the skin absorbing this hormone gradually. These patches have side effects similar to those of the pills, but they have no known complications on the body, whether local or general. After the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta studied the aforementioned inquiry, it responded that if these patches do not result in harm to the woman, there is no blame on using them, provided the reason for birth control is permissible, such as the woman not being able to give birth naturally and being forced to undergo a surgical operation to deliver the child, or if delaying pregnancy for a specific period is for a valid benefit seen by both spouses. However, if preventing pregnancy is due to fear of poverty and need, this is not permissible, and it is similar to the practice of the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Allah the Exalted said:
And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin.
وَلاَ تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلاَدَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلاَقٍ نَحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْئًا كَبِيرًاmajor ritual impurity. No specific duration is required for wiping over it, nor is it required that she be in a state of ritual purity when applying it initially; because the ruling for these patches is the same as the ruling for a cast.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.